Social - June 2003

Group sets goals for community

Published June 27, 2003

By ALICE SMITH, LTN Staff Writer

Some western Lincoln County residents are banding together to form an official community group.

Members of the new North Brook Community Association held an organizational meeting last month.

More people showed up than expected, according to the Rev. Dale Pederson, pastor of Cedar Grove Church and chairman of the group.

“Eighteen people came out, and we were pleased with that,” Pederson said.

The group is starting out on an informal basis, Pederson said.

Their immediate, short-term goal is to renovate the West Lincoln Community Center building, some parts of which are in “desperate need of repair,” Pederson said.

The Lincoln County Board of Commissioners voted in April to spend up to $20,000 to repair and revamp the center, located on N.C. 274.

There’s a 7-member committee, including three officers, that will direct the association, Pederson said.

“It’s a nuts and bolts organization,” Pederson said.

The group will focus on revising guidelines for the use of the center. There are some rules in place currently, but the group wants to get them up-to-date.

One of the association’s long term goals is to start work on land set aside for a park on Hulls Grove Church Road, Pederson said.

“We’re trying to get the community involved in that and anything that might come up,” he said.

In the early 90s, there was a West Lincoln Community Association which was composed of residents from all over the western part of the county, Pederson said.

But that proved to be too broad a scope.

“We never could get all the different parties involved from each community,” he said.

The group focused on everything from land use and zoning issues to convenience sites.

The North Brook Community Association will be centered specifically around North Brook, which is probably more of a realistic goal, he said.

The project group in charge of the community center will meet about once a month, and the association’s steering committee will get together every other month. The entire association will probably have a meeting annually.

Since the group is just in the beginning stages, no real schedule has been set in stone.

Anyone in the North Brook area is welcome to join by contacting Pederson at 704-276-1319.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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